25 July 2016

On Wednesday, 20 July, it was announced that Kirsten Dunst is set to make her directorial debut with a new adaptation of Sylvia Plath's only finished novel, The Bell Jar, starring Dakota Fanning in the lead role as Esther Greenwood. Since then, the news has gone viral which is not surprising in the least.

In 2007, word spread that a film was in the works headlined by Julia Stiles and Tristine Skyler (screenplay), but unfortunately this project did not come to fruition. In fact, a blog post about the project was the second post ever here on the Sylvia Plath Info Blog. In May 2008, I posted a letter from Julia Stiles herself on this blog about the project.

We can and should lament that the Stiles/Skyler project never happened. I witnessed them conducting research at Smith College and provided information and resources when asked. So I know first-hand the lengths to which they went in creating a screenplay that would honor Plath herself and the work she did in writing The Bell Jar. And we must hope that Dunst's adaptation will display the same level of commitment -- and be as faithful as possible -- to Plath's excellent novel. I say this with the wretched liberties* taken by the writer(s) and director of 1979 film version of The Bell Jar in mind, as well as the trend recently toward restoration. What the Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath and Ariel: The Restored Edition, published in 2000 and 2004 respectively, did was to begin a shift in the accessibility of Plath's original texts, representing her powerful and authentic voice and vision as she intended. (The forthcoming Letters of Sylvia Plath that I edited with Karen V. Kukil, of course, was guided by this very same principle.) These are, of course, textual works which are very different to adaptations of those works into film and can have a different audience. But I do not see why we should not hope the same of Hollywood as we do London and New York publishers.

There is no better homage to Plath's The Bell Jar than to cinematically represent, as closely to the original as possible, the novel that millions of people around the world -- of all ages, backgrounds, native languages and much more -- have read, loved, re-read, related to, and recommended for more than half a century.

20 July 2016

In Sylvia Plath's senior year at Bradford Senior High, 1949-1950, she was co-editor with Frank Irish of The Bradford.

As with the previous posts covering Plath's first and second years at high school (posted on 1 July and 7 July, respectively), below is a list of those newspapers which were published during Plath's final year at high school. Here I describe the known contributions Plath made to The Bradford from the fall of 1949 to spring of 1950, as well as the instances where she was mentioned. The list of contributors for each issue appeared on page 2. If Plath's name appeared, I have listed the department and/or role. There are instances where Plath's name was not listed, which we can take to mean she contributed no content or was accidentally left off (though that seems doubtful). The departments typically were Features, News, Business, Sports, Typing, and Art. Each newspaper, excepting April 1949, was a four pages in broadsheet format.

Each newspaper features at least one editorial article, usually two. It is possible Plath authored one or both for each of the six issues while acting as co-editor. In addition, she likely wrote and/or re-wrote much of the copy for the articles too. The full extent of her contributions cannot be estimated.

27 October 1949
Poems "Question" and "White Phlox" on pages 2 and 4, both without byline. While Stephen Tabor writes in C14 of his excellent Annotated Bibliography of Sylvia Plath: "During the academic year 1949-1950 Plath was co-editor of The Bradford, her high school newspaper. She contributed no signed poems or prose, but could have written much of the copy" (104), he did not record "White Phlox" as a contribution ("Question" appears as entry C13). True, they are not signed, but they are contributions. "White Phlox" was printed in August 1952 by the Christian Science Monitor but lacks the final quatrain which appeared in the Bradford publication. As above with "City Streets", Plath included this poem, with the final four lines as appeared in The Bradford, in a letter to Hans-Joachim Neupert. The Lilly Library holds typescripts of both poems.

Mentioned on page 2 as Bradford co-editor; and probably in "Bradford Babble": "How many letters so far, Syl?"

21 December 1950
Mentioned on the following pages:
Page 1: "Scene on Stage: We Gather Today", for reading devotions on 18 November 1949.
Page 2 as Bradford co-editor.

10 February 1950
Mentioned on page 2 as Bradford co-editor.

24 March 1950
Plath's poem "Complaint" without byline, on page 3; as well as a photograph of Plath at a school dance (junior prom) paper on page 1. A copy of this photo is in Plath's high school scrapbook, page 25. The Lilly Library a typescript of the poem.

Mentioned on the following pages:
Page 1: Photograph of students dancing, SP among them, taken 18 March 1950.
Page 1: "The Senior Class Presents…"; article about the school play The Admirable Crichton in which SP played the role of Lady Agatha.
Page 2 as Bradford co-editor.
Page 3: "The Bradford Salutes…", SP named for becoming a member of the National Honor Society.

29 April 1950
Plath's poems "Family Reunion" and "The Farewell" both on page 2 and without byline."Family Reunion" is in Plath's Collected Poems though with some variation in punctuation; and she included "The Farewell" in a letter to Hans-Joachim Neupert. The Lilly Library holds a typescript of "The Farewell" and two typescripts of "Family Reunion" that also has different punctuation.

Mentioned on the following pages:
Page 1: "The Admirable Crichton -- Outstanding Success!", SP mentioned for her role as Lady Agatha.
Page 1: "Scene on Stage: March 31 --- Carnations: red and white", SP named for becoming a member of the National Honor Society.
Page 2 as Bradford co-editor.

6 June 1950
Mentioned on the following pages:
Pages 1, 4: "1950 Class Prophecy", SP appeared on page 4: "Sylvia Plath is explaining her theory of relativity to Pat O'Neil who is listening, as always, with the patience of Job."
Page 1: Aurelia Plath listed as Patron of The Bradford, assisting financially to help get the issue out.
Page 2 as Bradford co-editor.
Pages 2-3: "Class Will - 1950", SP appeared on page 3: "Sylvia Plath leaves her acting ability to all those junior girls who clutter up the nurse's office."

The first pages of each of the issues:

27 October 1949

21 December 1949

10 February 1950

24 March 1950

29 April 1950

6 June 1950

These papers give a good sense of student life, academics, and sports during Plath's time at high school and as such may be a rich resource for those interested in late 1940s and early 1950s suburban (affluent) education and student writing. Plath carried her interest in journalism with her to Smith College where she participated in Press Board. She also wrote journalistic articles while a student at Newnham College, Cambridge, and later in 1959 while living in Boston, finding some success with the Christian Science Monitor. Once in England, Plath wrote several reviews of children's books and nonfiction that were published in the New Statesman, and also branched into radio reviews on the BBC. And it all started while a student in the Wellesley, Massachusetts, public school system.

To sum, this research yielded several bibliographically unrecorded publications of Plath in the genres of poetry, prose, and artwork.

07 July 2016

This is the second post on Sylvia Plath's participation with and contributions to The Bradford. (Read the first was post.) This post looks at Plath's junior year of high school, 1948-1949. But first, a side-story.

One of the first things I found when working with the archive was that Plath was the subject of a feature article on 20 December 1977. Kathleen Offenhartz's "Bradford Remembers: Sylvia Plath" is a measured piece with some revealing information. The article appears on pages 1 and 3. Upon reading page three, among several other things ye olde Archive Fever 103° took hold as re-printed there from an earlier issue of The Bradford was Plath's poem "Fog". Like me you might be saying, "But in none of the bibliographies of Plath's work is there an entry in the 1940s for a poem entitled 'Fog'."

Well now: clearly we were mistaken.

This 1977 find sent me hurtling back to the 1940s. I quickly found all 18 issues for the period that Plath was in high school and started to photograph each page. In the process of photographing each of the pages of the newspapers I found "Fog", which was printed with a byline on 4 February 1949, page 3.

"Fog" is an unusually structured sonnet, with three uneven stanzas of five lines, six lines, and three lines. The Lilly Library holds four separate typescripts of "Fog". Each contains essentially the same words though there are variations in stanza length, line structure, and imagery in each copy. One bears the pseudonym "Sandra Peters". The copy used for publication in The Bradford features the Plath's name, age, town & state typed at the top right and above this is a handwritten year of "1948". A fifth version of "Fog" was a part of the December 2014 Sotheby's auction that failed to sell.

Back to the 4 February 1949 issue… In the contributor area for this issue, Plath is the sole name listed under Art. The only art in the issue appears on page 2 as three silhouettes in the "Who Are They???" section. "Who Are They???" printed silhouettes of students and featured information about the students and the reader had to guess the person. It is unclear if Plath (or whoever the artist responsible for the silhouettes in each issue was) wrote the content here. In this issue, the students featured were Janet Seely, Mike Moore, and Jean Woods.

Below is a list of those newspapers which were published during Plath's junior year of high school. Here I describe the known contributions Plath made to The Bradford from the fall of 1948 to spring of 1949, as well as the instances where she was mentioned. The list of contributors for each issue appeared on page 2. If Plath's name appeared, I have listed the department and/or role. There are instances where Plath's name was not listed, which we can take to mean she contributed no content or was accidentally left off (though that seems doubtful). The departments typically were Features, News, Business, Sports, Typing, and Art. Each newspaper, excepting 29 April 1949, was a four pages in broadsheet format. The 29 April 1949 was mimeographed on sixteen pages of standard copy paper and stapled twice at the top. The full extent of Plath's contributions may be unknowable as bylines were not used consistently. Certainly during her co-editorship she did a decent amount of writing and revision.

1 November 1948
Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features department.

16 December 1948
Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features department.

4 February 1949
"Fog" with byline and artwork without byline, discussed above. These contributions have not been acknowledged or attributed previously in any bibliography.

Mentioned on the following pages:
Page 1: "Junior Prom Jitters": mentioned for being on decorations committee.
Page 2: As member of Bradford staff in Features and Art departments.
Page 4: "Girls' Basketball Gets Under Way"; member of junior class team as a guard and as a junior varsity member, also as a guard.

28 March 1949
"April: 1949" with byline. A long poem in three parts: "1. The Storm Clouds Gather", "2. The Approach of the Horsemen", and "3.The Appeal". The first two parts are traditional 14-line sonnets comprised of three quatrains and a final couplet. The third part is longer, 24 lines that begin and end with couplets with five quatrains in between. An apocalyptic poem featuring the four horsemen. "April: 1949" expresses mid-century fears about the possibility of "The Atomic Threat", which Plath wrote about the previous year. The Lilly Library holds a typescript of this poem under the title "Youth's Appeal for Peace" and is dated by Plath March 28, 1949. This contribution has not been acknowledged or attributed previously in any bibliography.

Mentioned on the following pages:
Page 1: "Snoop 'n Scoop", mentioned for recognition in the Scholastic Magazines Art Contest.
Page 2: "We Asked You…", SP gave response to question "What simple things are you unable to do?" Her response was "Raise an eyebrow."
Page 3: "The Bradford Salutes…", mentioned for being a member of the March Devotional Committee.

29 April 1949
Most likely two drawings on page 8 as there is something quintessentially Plathian about the style… Especially if you have worked with her early diaries at the Lilly Library, her paper dolls, and read the wonderful Eye Rhymes: Sylvia Plath's Art of the Visual edited by Kathleen Connors and Sally Bayley (see particularly pages 46 and 66, and color plates 7 and 15). This issue is not in typical newspaper format but rather printed as mimeographed (photocopied) pages. Plath is listed as a contributor to the Art department along with two other students. This contribution has not been acknowledged or attributed previously in any bibliography.
Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features and Art departments.

7 June 1949
Mentioned on page 1, "Bradford Announces Incoming Editors", named a co-editor; includes photograph.

01 July 2016

On a day in March, I visited Wellesley High School to look through old copies of the school newspaper, The Bradford. Sylvia Plath attended the school under its former name: Gamaliel Bradford Senior High. Also in its former location as the old school was razed a few years back. As a last minute decision, according to her diary, Plath decided to try out for The Bradford and was accepted to join the staff of the school newspaper. For the next three years, Plath was a contributor in many ways to the school paper, ultimately becoming its co-editor for her senior year, 1949-1950.

The Bradford was then published six times a year. Usually around late October, right before Christmas, and then early February, late March, late April, and early June in time for graduation. Working through this archive proved very fascinating. Much of the paper is like the crummy paper in mass market paperbacks: its acidity eating it away to the point where it is very brittle and crumbly.

This is the first in a series of three blog posts on Plath and The Bradford. One for each year she was at the school and at work on the newspaper.

This research was prompted by an omission. In her fascinating and insightful high school scrapbook, now held by the Lilly Library, Plath attached a copy of the 27 October 1949 issue of The Bradford. However, in working with the scrapbook in March 2015, I noticed the issue was missing and did not appear to be elsewhere in the collection. The Lilly has an oversize box of Bradford's and Smith College has some, too. But this first issue as co-editor, published on her birthday no less, is not among them. (That I could find. Admittedly, I might have missed it or it might have been removed for some legitimate reason and/or misfiled somewhere.)

Below is a list of those newspapers which were published during Plath's first year at high school. Here I describe the known contributions Plath made to The Bradford from the fall of 1947 to spring of 1948, as well as the instances where she was mentioned. The list of contributors for each issue appeared on page 2. If Plath's name appeared, I have listed the department and/or role. There are instances where Plath's name was not listed, which we can take to mean she contributed no content or was accidentally left off (though that seems doubtful).

General observations that will apply to the entire series of posts.The departments typically were Features, News, Business, Sports, Typing, and Art. Each newspaper, excepting April 1949, was a four pages long and in broadsheet format. The full extent of Plath's contributions may be unknowable as bylines were not used consistently. Certainly during her co-editorship in the 1949-1950 academic year she would have done did a decent amount of writing and revision.

30 October 1947
"Introducin'", no byline. In this article, Plath contributes a profile of a new teacher at the high school, Mr. Coletta. There are other teachers profiled but it is unclear if Plath wrote about them or not. In her diary (24 July 1947-25 March 1948) Plath writes on 2 October 1947 about joining the newspaper. In the entry she writes about the assignment about the new school art teacher, Mr. Coletta. This contribution has not been acknowledged or attributed previously in any bibliography.

Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features department.

19 December 1947
Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features department.

6 February 1948
"City Streets" and "Miss Palmer's Treasures", both with bylines. The poem "City Streets" is twelve-lines and describes a dirty city scene; a very dour poem. Plath would go on to include a typed copy of the poem in a letter to her German pen pal Hans-Joachim Neupert the following year. "Miss Palmer's Treasures" is a book review Treasures by Dora E. Palmer and Dorothy Nell Knolle, the third book in their Adventures in Reading series. The book features a collection of poems, short stories and excerpts from well-known classics. These contributions have not been acknowledged or attributed previously in any bibliography.

Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features department.

19 March 1948
Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features department and possibly on page 4 in "Bradford Babble", a gossip column: "Sylvia likes Tom".

26 April 1948
"The Atomic Threat" with byline. A feature article comprising nearly the entire fourth column on page 1. This impressive article states firm opinions on the insanity of atomic warfare. In the article Plath writes with hope that "It has been suggested that an International Atomic Development Authority be established to make sure that atomic energy is used solely for peaceful, commercial purposes." Plath in the article seems to favor the idea of creating a world government. Writing this piece likely lead into Plath's later "Youth's Plea for World Peace", co-written with Perry Norton, published in the Christian Science Monitor and, it could be argued, her poem "Bitter Strawberries" published also by the Monitor.

Mentioned on page 2 as member of Bradford staff in Features department.

2 June 1948
SP does not appear at all.

So...the world of Sylvia Plath's contributions to periodicals has increased a little bit, no? Next time we will look at Sylvia Plath's junior year in high school. It is an understatement to say that this was the most interesting year for Plath and The Bradford.